News from Beirut July 14 1997
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South Lebanon, The Ongoing Turmoil

-The cycle of violence in south Lebanon is once again under light. Lebanon
filed a complaint to the five nation cease-fire monitoring committee after
a 70 year old Lebanese farmer martyred under Israeli artillery shelling at
his village inside the security zone on Saturday. The committee will be called
to convene to examine the complaint. It will be the 14th meeting since early
this year. There were casting doubts over the monitoring committee's mission
turned to be merely recording events and preoccupied in interpreting provisions
of the April's understanding, instead of specifying responsibility and releasing
the violating party. The Lebanese delegation to the panel will present evidence
that the farmer killing was intentional.

-Two Israeli soldiers were slightly wounded Sunday in a Hizbullah attack
on their outpost in the occupied zone. Israel said the clash took place in
the central part of the security zone. Hizbullah said its fighters attacked
the Dabsheh outpost near Nabatieh, also another outpost at Ali Taher. Israel
retaliated with artillery fire that hit civilian areas in Nabatieh and Kfar
Tibnit, damaging two houses and several cars.

-Hizbullah statement said "The Zionist enemy should realize that its continuation
to violate the understanding, going on killing more Lebanese civilians, even
inside the occupied sector, will not pass without a punishment". The party
described the April's understanding "A weapon with two edges". Hizbullah
called the concerned parties to observe application of the understanding
and to take the firm measures that ensure safety of the Lebanese civilians,
otherwise they would turn into idle witnesses who only count fatalities.
The party is said to have indirectly hinted to the possibility of shelling
the Israeli settlements if Israel continues shelling Lebanese civilian areas.

-Twelve Israeli soldier have been killed and 51 wounded since early this
year. The latest Hizbullah attack came a day after the elderly farmer martyred
inside his village Adsheet. Israel said the incident was accidental and regretted
the incident. Eight Lebanese civilians have been killed in south Lebanon
since the beginning of the year.

-Foreign minister fares Boueiz pledged that members of the SLA who defected
from the militia of their own free will would not face prosecution here.
He added that this was one of the reasons why the government had chosen to
reopen the Kfarfalous crossing. The foreign minister added that before referring
a militiaman to court, authorities have to make sure he has left the SLA
on his own and has not been sent to free Lebanon as a spy. The minister said
the reopening of the crossing would enable the SLA members to defect. Boueiz
said "Even if the government's effort to reopen the crossing failed, residents
of Jezzine will know that their government has not forgotten them. He warned
that Lebanon may complain to international organizations if Israel continued
to prevent the crossing from being reopened.

The Eighth Pan Arab Games, An Outlook

-The Eighth Pan Arab Games were inaugurated Saturday by president Elias Hrawi,
who said "From the Camille Chamoun Sports City, I declare the Pan Arab Games
open".

-Spectators who were barred from entering the stadium because of over-capacity
were pushed back by security provoking scuffles. At 6.30 p.m, the stadium
was already packed. Its seating capacity is 50,000 and tickets distributed
exceeded 150,000.

-Crowds lucky to have seats inside the stadium cheered warmly the Arab teams,
as they filed one after another past the VIP section. Only 19 Arab member
attended with Iraq, Somalia and Comoros not participating.

-21 sporting events are scheduled but four were canceled for lack of players.

-President Hrawi in his opening speech said Lebanon would do all it could
to make the games a success. "From Lebanon we say to the world; The Lebanese
have returned to their heritage and unity, they have returned to build a
Lebanon for heroes, youth and peace". He thanked Kuwait and Saudi Arabia
for financing the construction of the Sports City. He also expressed gratitude
to the efforts deployed by premier Hariri for supervising the construction.

-Prime minister Rafic Hariri said in his speech The opening ceremony marked
the day when "Construction won over destruction, and peace over war" and
"Every stone built in this place is a victory for the martyrs who died during
the war". Hariri added saying "Israel transformed this place into a graveyard
but it has become a place for unity, peace and Arab solidarity under president
Elias Hrawi's mandate.

-President of the Pan Arab Games Association prince Faisal bin Fahd bin Abdel
Aziz said "This is a tournament of solidarity between the Lebanese people
who have established credibility in their country and given rise to this
great sporting event". "Bombs can destroy a city but can never shake the
faith of believers", he said.

-Secretary general of the Arab League applauded Lebanon for accepting the
challenge to host the event and "those who doubted Lebanon's capabilities
to organize the event were not aware of its deep-rooted strength or its cultural
and educational heritage.

-Lebanon foreign minister said Sunday "Lebanon was left in a difficult position,
inviting Iraq and losing the participation of countries whose relations with
Lebanon are of paramount importance, or excluding Iraq to safeguard relative
inter-Arab accord, because full accord was not possible". Boueiz , who was
commenting on the exclusion of Iraq, was the first official to admit that
Iraq had not been invited because its arch rivals Kuwait and Saudi Arabia
had threatened to walk out. Boueiz added " There is no secret that, even
in sports, the repercussions of the Gulf war can still be felt".

-The Iraqi athletes, trapped at the Lebanese border point Masnaa, and in
an attempt to express their stand carried banners which read "Saddam Hussein's
athletes are the first to call for Arab solidarity", and "Yes, to sports
that unite people and no to sports that separates the Arabs". Head of the
Iraqi team Assil Tabra said "The athletes endured a hard trip by land in
order to participate in the games and it was a sign that they held a deep
respect for Arab nationalism".

-Secretary General of the Arab League Issmat abdel Maguid declared that banning
Iraq from participation in the games was painful, but the "least harmful
had to be chosen". He said "This issue could have been solved last April
when Lebanon answered and Arab League request and sent invitations to all
Arab countries, which was a normal thing to do".

-President of the International Olympic Committee, Juan Antonio Samaranch,
reflected that keeping sports out of politics was not an easy task. "It is
very easy to say that sports has nothing to do with politics, but you can
find politics everywhere" and "This problem is solved bit by bit, step by
step,, I am sure it will be solved".

-The Iraqi most influential daily Babil said "Lebanon had prevented the athletes
from entering for silly financial profits".

-Algerian woman runner Dalila Meyale won the first gold medal of the Eighth
Arab Games yesterday clocking 1:26:41 in the 21 km half marathon that started
at the Sports City and ended same place after running throughout Beirut streets.
The second gold medal was for the Tunisian runner Attaher Mansour in the
42.195 km men's marathon race with a time of 2:28:19. He was the first to
win this race in two consecutive Arab games.

Localities

-Prime minister Rafic Hariri is due to leave today to Spain in a three day
official visit. He will go next to London and meet the new prime minister.
Lebanon's cabinet will not hold its weekly session this week. The Parliament
won't convene in an extra session and some ministers did not favor such session
in order to avert debates that would harm the summer season. Paper reports
said he might be seeking EU loans to finance his designed social blitz that
he has revealed recently. Hariri, in interview with the Spanish media, said
the situation in south Lebanon will remain as it is now as long the Israeli
occupation continues. He denied that the US is pressing Lebanon and said
he thinks Israel won't attack Lebanon once again.

-Patriarch Sfair in his Sunday's sermon at Diman denounced the government
decision to postpone municipal elections for two more years. He said the
gap is widening between the rulers and the ruled. He also said the public
debate that took place last week flagrantly exposed that differences between
the people and the government are being aggravated constantly. "The government
should go to the people and evaluate their opinion before taking any decision
instead of ignoring their will. He said the government's actions are
against the Pope's apostolic exhortation, which stressed the importance of
boosting Christian-Muslim cooperation, notwithstanding personal or private
interests. "Muslims and Christians should work together for their common
good in order to protect morality, justice, peace and the family", he said.
The patriarch said Lebanon was suffering from many problems that mainly stem
from Israel's occupation and the dangers inherent in the Palestinian issue.

-Eastern orthodox patriarch Ignatius Hazim IV yesterday called on officials
to make a new movement towards achieving national unity and alleviating the
problems of the poor. In such a rare comment on domestic affairs, patriarch
Hazim said he hoped the government pays more attention to what is humanitarian
and what is good. He said "People must be able to speak from the heart and
be listened to. Asked about sheikh Tufeili's hunger revolution, he said it
is "Completely unacceptable that a human being could be humiliated because
of poverty or because they were in need".

-Sheikh Subhui Tufeili speaking Sunday at Beit Shama village in Bekaa said
"I order Fransabank and the UN to return the property deeds to the people
because I will not allow anyone to steal the people's land". He was referring
to a UN project for rural development in which Fransabank gave L.L5mn to
people who wanted to purchase property. Tufeili told those unable to continue
repayment not to. He said the people responsible for the project were thieves
and not qualified. Tufeili also criticized the project to distribute 3,000
dairy cow in deprived areas saying "the US cows that were sold to people
by installments eat more than they produce.

-Syria's farming minister with his advisers toured Sunday a dairy farm, vineyards
and a sugar factory in Bekaa. The delegation will visit south Lebanon later.
Lebanese agriculture minister hoped the visit will have positive results
for local farmers. Southern farmers have repeatedly asked Syria to lift import
restrictions on the locally produced bananas, and other issues including
the prevention of dumping local market of Syrian crops such as potatoes and
poultry. Today, the two ministers visited south farms in south. This evening
the two will sign an agriculture cooperation agreement.

-MP Qabalan Issa el Khoury during a visit to Cardinal Sfair Sunday said he
is against extending term of the president "for the good of Lebanon".

-Head of the Maronite League Pierre Helou said he has desire to contact all
parties to unite the internal stand. Helou said the issue of returning all
displaced should be given top priority.

-Sit ins are to be held today in Beirut and other Lebanese towns on the day
of "Lebanese captives" upon call from the Follow Up Committee To Support
Lebanese Detainees in Israeli Jails. The committee demanded release of patients
and wounded and reveal whereabouts of the missing detainees.